Surgical needle and method of making the same



Sept. 7 1926. 1,599,059

, H. D. MORTON sunezcn, NEEDLE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE sum F iled-Sept. 9, 1925 gvwemtoz cgfm/ m to employ needles having three Suchneedles are open to the objecformed by such adjacent Patented Sept. '7,1 926.

UNITED SURGICAL NE DLE AN Application filed September 9, 1925.

The 7 following is a gical needle and methods of making the invention inthe form description of a surpreferred by me; but

that various modificabe made without departing from'the spirit of myinvention and without exceeding the scope of my claims.

In surgical operations much effort is re quired to force a needle of theusual type through certain tissues, upon some portions'of the body, andtendons; and the pr ncipal ob ect of my such as the skin the scalpinvention is to provide a needle having keen cutting edges, permittingit to be more read1- ly passed through su ch tissues than any other typeof needle with which I am familiar.

It will be apparent, however, that my invention also possesses utilityin otherarts than surgery, where it is necessary to pass a needlethrough resistant material.

I am aware that it is old in the prior art sides. 7 tion that the anglesor more flat sides are so. obtuse as to preclude the possibility ofmachining th edge. For example,

em to a keen cutting such sides on a triangular needle form angles; and,on a square needle 90 angles. pressure is therefore necessary Nearly asgreat to force such a needle through certain tissues as is required whenneedle is employed.'

the ordinary conically-pointed Surgical needles are usually ofrelatively small diameter; and if if it were attempted to order toproduce abrasive wheels would hollow grind them in keen cutting edges,the

necessarily be of lesser diameters than the tapered portion of theneedle itself, very delicate and and would therefore be short-livedQFurthermore, in orderto give the high surface speed req uisite for"properly abrading the metal to form keen cutting edges,

it would be necessary to rotate these smallwheels atan impracticablyhigh rate.

is possible, with facturing methods, to

By my invention, it

simple and practical manuexternally grind the needle to form a pluralityof edges so keen that only slight effort is required to cause the needleto readily cut its way through thick and resistant tiss LIBS.

My invention will best be understood by reference to the-accompanyingdrawings, in

- which I have illustrate d the preferred forms blades approach the nMETHOD or MAKING 'rnn SAME.

Serial No. 55,268

of my invention and methods of making the same, and in which Fig.1shows, partly in section and partly in perspective, a portion of aneedle blank with the usual conical point; Fig. 2 is a similar view of aportion of .such blank after there have been formed therein threetapered grooves, starting on the straight portion of the needle somewhatabove the tapered portion thereof and terminating close to the point ofthe blank; Fig. 3 shows, partly in section and partly in perspective,such needle blank with one of the three flutes between the groovesexternally ground away to form a blade having a keen cutting edge; andalso, inperspective, a portion of. an abrasive wheelwhich may beemployed for this external grinding; Fig. 4 shows, partly in section andpartly in perspective, the point and three cutting blades of the needlein finished form; Fig. 5 is an elevation of a portion of a complet-' edneedle with a part thereof broken away to show the form of the grooveand blades.

- Like reference characters indicate like parts throughout the drawings.

Referring to the drawings: 1 indicates the body of a needle, which mayhave formed in its shank end an eye or other thread-carryingnieans (notshown). 2 is the point of the needle, which maybe of any convenientSTATES PATENT "OFFICE. I

HARRY n. Mon'ron, or. new YORK, n. Y.

blank, so that a strong central core -ofsub stantially. uniformcross-sectional area extends throughout the grooved portion of theblank; and so that the height from this core of the cutting blades towhich the flutes are reduced progressively increases as such straightportion of the needle. P, l and 4 are flutes remaining in the. taperedportion of the blank after the pointing and the forming of the grooves,3 3 and 3. In the machining of each flute material is preferably soremoved from one side thereof as to leave a cutting edge coincidentwith. the j surface of the blank,

' so that 7 ice I the cutting edges of all the flutes converge towardthe needle point at the same angle as that of the original blank. Beforethe blank is hardened, a portion of the perimeter of each flute may beremoved throughout the' length thereof, as by millingor by externalrough grinding; or, if in'eferred, this external grinding may be doneatone'operatiou after the blank has been hardened, tempered andpolished. After the point,- grooves and eye (oi-'otherthread-attachingmeans)- have been forn'ied in the'needle blank, the blank maybehar'dened, tempered'and polished in the usual manner-the extreme pointbeing re-ground', if necessary. The grooves 3", 3" and 3 arepreferablycarried beyond the tapered portion of the blank and for a short distancealongthestraight portion thereof, in order to'provide'nieans for soregistering and holding the' blank in a fixture (not shown) that theflutes may be brought into contact withan abrasive wheel in the correctposition f'orgrinding. The flutesel,4 and P are then successively movedinto and maintained in contact with the face of an abrasive wheel 5,-insuch a position and for su'clr a time as' to remove suflieient of thereiri'aining' material from the perimeter of each such flute as toreduce it to a blade haviu akecn cuttin ed 'e. In the'grindin h t) t":t)

operationyth'e needle is sosupported'that' the upper edg'e'of thcflutewhich is toform the cuttingedge and toward which'the grinding is to bedone, is parallel to the axisof rotation of the abrasive'wheelz- Thecontour of the flutes is such as to permit of feeding. the needle at aright angle to't'he axis of rotation of the abrasive wheel and directlyagainst the face thereof so that' the abrasion is cf fected without thenecessity of feeding it across such face'thercby producinga muclr keenercutting blade than would otherwise be possible. The grinding thus startsat the widest portion of the tapered flute and, asthe'ne'edle is fedforwardly, the ground surface continues to lengthen until the small endof the'flute is reached. This results in reducing each flute to a radialblade which extendsthe entire length of the'taperedportion of the needleexcept the extreme point thereof.

It will be obvious that the external grinding which is made possible bymy construction permits of the use of an abrasive'wheel of muclr largerdiameter than that of the needle. This is a very advantageous featnre',because it is thereby possible to impart a high surface speed to suchwheel; with consequent iinpr vement in the cutting qualities of theblades. The cutting edges may, after grinding, be subjected to a stropping process, such as is wellknown to'those skilled in the art.

VVhat- I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States is:

1. A needlehaving a plurality of tapered blades extending along a coreof substantially uniform cross section.

2. A needle having a plurality of tapered blades radiating from a coreof substantially uniform cross section.

3; A surgical needle having a point, a body, a plurality of radialcutting blades extending throughout a portion of the distance from saidpoint to said body. and a core of substantially uniform cross sectionadjacent said blades.

4. A needle having formed therein a plurality of alternate groovesandflutes, the bottom of each such groove being substantially parallelthroughout its length to the longitudinal axis of said needle andthesaid flutes formingv cutting blades- 5. A needle havinga conicalend,-a plurality of cutting. blades extending along a portion thereof,and a core of substantially uniform' cross section adjacent said blades.

6: A needle having formed in a tapered portion thereof a plurality ofalternate grooves and flutes, the bottom of each such groove beingsubstantially parallel throughout its length to the longitudinal axisof:

said needle and the perimeter of eachof said: flutes being externallyground to form; a cutting blade tapering in height toward the pointofsuch needle.

7. The method of makinganeedle'which consists in formingalternatetaperedgrooves and flutes in a blank and producing a cutting: edge oneach such fluteby machining metal from the perimeter thereof.

8. The method of making a: needle which consists in forming three ormore tapered grooves-in a blank and producing a cutting edge on each ofthe flutes between said grooves by externally grinding the perimeterthereof:

9. Themethod of making a needle which consists-in conically pointingablank, grooving' a part of said conical portion to form a plurality offlutes, hardening and tempering said blank and machining metal from theperimeterof eachsuchflute to'redu'ce itto a cutting blade.

10. Tlicmethod of making a cutting needle which consists in formingapluralityof alternate tapered grooves and flutes in a blank, hardening,tempering and pointing said blank, positioning said blank with an edgeof each of said flutes successively parallel to the axis of rotation ofan abrasive wheel, and machining metal from the perimeter of each ofsaid flutes by feeding the same at a right angleto the-axisof rotationof said wheel toreduee such flute to a cutting blade.

11:. The'method of making a needle which consists in tapering a portionof a blank. grooving"said tapered portion through a part of its lengthto produce a plurality of flutes and a core of substantially uniformcross section throughout said grooved portion, and forming a cuttingedge on each such flute rimeter thereof. 7 v

12. The method of making a needle which consists in conically pointing ablank, grooving a part of said conical portiontoproby machining metalfrom the pe-.

r from the perimeter thereof With an abraduce a plurality of flutes anda core of sub stantially uniform cross sectlon throughout sald groovedportion and'forming a cutting edge on each such flute by grinding metalsive .Wheel of substantially greater diameter than the diameter of saidblank.

HARRY D. MORTON.

